ZMF Eikon Measurements and Review

May I get a spectro with a lower noise floor please?

 

Thanks for your insights.

My WA6SE has the Sophia rectifier and RCA 6DR7 upgrades. I freer the RCA's over the option 1 upgrade with the adapters because it has a very tight bass.

My LCD3 is fazor type. I really like the bass of the LCD3 particularly the extension and impact. I also prefdr the mids of the Audeze. I gravitate to the LCD3 for rock and rnb while I enjoy the HD800 with Jazz, instrumental and select vocals.

When I said a mix of the two is to have the bass and mods of the Audeze withe the treble extension of the Senn without the harshness. I know they are very different headphones and probably I'm asking too much but that is the sound I'm looking for. Wondering if the Atticcus or Eikon would best match that preference and which wood cup option to take.

 

Hey @Marvey , can you update the spider chart with the X00s? Haven't seen it compared to TH-900 more closely than "better FR but less clarity"...

 

This chart @Marvey made for another thread might help. There's an extra rating category on the first one, and the TH900 maintained the same scores, but the Z1R did not. Some extrapolation is required as I believe each chart is meant to be taken loosely, in the context of only what headphones are on there and how the listener felt at the time. Even with those caveats I may still be admonished for putting them next to each other, but I personally found this useful.

These charts are really helpful, I'd love to see some with headphones that pre-date their usage.

http://www.superbestaudiofriends.or...mdr-z1r-measurements-based-review.3939/page-4


http://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/zmf-eikon-measurements-and-review.4109/page-2

 

Tyll has his review of the Eikon up complete with measurements!

http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/ZMFEikon.pdf

Lots of treble weirdness and a very noisy 300hz square wave reinforces the idea of the weird treble. Weird spike in distortion where there's a null in the frequency response.

The general curve from 20hz to 3khz seems to be great, though, as is the isolation.

 

That looks like the resonance is real.

Looking at the graphs I definitely expected it to sound nasty, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Otherwise isolation looks pretty good and FR decently neutral. I have to say I'm slightly disappointed by the distortion and efficiency results (0,25mW for 90dbSPL), but I guess the FR explains the worse efficiency.

 

DAMN

• the bass lacked punch
• Dynamics are good but not great
  
• lack of nuanced resolve
  
• muffled

LOL

Well Tyll said it so it must be true. Especially since the WOF Ether C Flow is more dynamic, better resolved, and more punchy.

 

Good find, Tyll's review basically spelled out why I wasn't enamored with these. The tuning whether all intentional or not basically sucks for guitar-driven rock which is 90% of what I listen to. I was cranking the volume to get the presence region into focus which forced the slightly un-clean bass and 6kHz emphasis on me. Less resolving than an Ether C though... I dunno about that.

 

WTF is up with the distortion spike? That pair has to be messed up. Marv's measurements were a lot better. Still high distortion, and the spike is still there, but not touching 10%

 

Distortion spike is pretty comparable if you look again. Marv's measurements are closer to 87db at 500Hz vs 90db/100db for Tyll's. Part of the spike in the measurements will also simply be due to the dip in the FR, even if it doesn't actually distort more at that frequency. Different couplers will give you different distortion results, too. Couplers with a deeper dip will show more distortion. The dip seems to be more pronounced on the dummy head. Also in my experience some couplers will give you more bass distortion with some phones, even with very similar FR.

What I do think is bad is the corresponding spike in the impedance graphs. It definitely doesn't look nice. I also don't like how suddenly there's a deep dip around 7-9kHz that Tyll also heard, especially when the coupler results looked eerily similar to the HD650 above 5kHz. Once again goes to show how different methods give different results.

 

It's usually interesting to compare his subjective and objective impressions, but this time it seems like a half-assed review. My takeaway is that the Eikon isn't as "reference" sounding as the other headphones he compare it to. (He seemed fond of that word.) Sad that reference has taken priority in his world over that of enjoyment. Disappointing review, not just in results but in effort of his writing.

 

I had a WTF moment there too. It seems like after the flow c debacle, he won't write ill of any of Dan's products even in comparisons of other headphones. Makes me wonder how far Dan has his hand up Tyll's ass for that to happen. Tickling tonsils at this point...

 

Yeah it's a bit of a difficult review to decipher. He likes the headphone, that much is clear, but it seems less careful and thorough than some of his previous work. I was especially disappointed that there wasn't more space dedicated to talking about how good the Eikon could be with a ToTL tube amp and with the way it changed the sound for the better. He did give a sentence or three to the Bottlehead Crack but that was it as far as tube amp synergy goes.

 

Reference only goes so far with him. If it were the end-all be-all, HD800/S would still be on his Wall of Fame.

And as far as the fanboy/shill remarks in your comments, I think they were a bit uncalled for. It's actually ironic playing those cards with such 'passionate' verbiage. I think Tyll gave them a fair review, and he actively likes them. In fact I dare say he gave them a more fair go-over than some people here do for Mr. Speakers TOTL products. It's not as if he's trashing them blindly. He literally said he likes listening to them and gave them a 'stuff we like' certification.

 

Rereading it seems a bit stronger/crass than I intended. I won't retract the statement as I feel I'm not wrong. I feel he bowed to some external pressure on the flow C review instead of sticking to his guns, and it's marred every review I've read since.

That's another conversation for PM or another thread though.

 

Mr Speakers products are treated fairly here, in fact all planars are...Just playing...kinda

 

It's quite simple really. M50X was 96% the performance of the Eikon, so Ether C Flow bested it.